It has long been the desire of manufacturers of casters to develop a bearing construction which would be durable and would not fail for a long period of time to thereby enhance the safety of the device on which the casters are mounted. One of the causes for failure of a caster construction is the failure of the bearings pivotally supporting the yoke to the caster mounting plate. Repeated abnormally high shock forces applied to the yoke by the wheel engaging a curb or other like abutment tend to bend the yoke and after prolonged and repeated abuse to the bearings, the bearings will fail rendering the caster totally useless and unsafe. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device which will absorb the shocks applied to the bearings of the caster construction and to, therefore, enhance the life of the bearing construction utilized therewith.
As is explained in detail in the copending application Ser. No. 758,673, "flutter" or "shimmy" have been problems which have yet to be solved. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device which will not only absorb shock but will simultaneously reduce the "flutter" or "shimmy" phenomena and simultaneously effect a sealing of the bearing construction from outside contaminants.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a device for use with a bearing construction for a caster which effectively absorbs shock applied to the yoke construction of the caster and to the swivel bearing construction.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a device, as aforesaid, which is usable with a swivel caster and which not only effectively absorbs shock applied to the yoke of the caster but also effectively eliminates the phenomena of "flutter" or "shimmy".
It is a further object of this invention to provide a device, as aforesaid, which is inexpensive in construction and can be added to existing swivel casters in the field at a minimum of expense.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a device, as aforesaid, which is easy and simple to install with a minimum of instruction and time.